COVID-19: Here’s what you need to know today
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The novel coronavirus has infected more than 258.2 million people, leaving more than 5.1 million dead across 196 countries and territories.
The majority of those infected have recovered and many countries have rolled out vaccine campaigns as economies start to recover from the pandemic.
— Jamaica reported 50 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths on Wednesday, bringing the local infection total to 90,905, and total deaths to 2,365.
— The Association of Writers of St Vincent and the Grenadines has sent an open letter to the country’s Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves urging him to re-think his administration’s mandatory coronavirus vaccination policy.
— New Zealand on Wednesday said it will not reopen to foreign travellers for at least another five months as it slowly relaxes some of the world’s toughest pandemic border restrictions.
— Leading Russian doctors on Wednesday invited celebrities and politicians with anti-vaccine views to visit COVID red zones in hospitals and see for themselves the dramatic effects of the pandemic.
— Russian President Vladimir Putin also revealed Wednesday that he has taken an experimental nasal vaccine against the coronavirus, three days after he received his booster shot, as the country faces its worst surge of infections and deaths since the pandemic began.
— The United States has suffered the most COVID-related deaths with 773,857, followed by Brazil with 613,066, India with 466,584, Mexico with 292,850 and Russia with 267,819.
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